Sunday, August 28, 2016

[Not a sponsored post] I would not say this is a hidden gem in the west, if you do frequent Sunset way, there is an area surrounded with restaurants. It's pretty out of the place for those who do not own our own transport like myself but we can always call a cab right. With thanks to my friend, Sharon's recommendation, we had our once in a blue moon dinner just for the moms at De Beer Seafood Restaurantat Sunset Way.

Apart from Gu Ma Jia's famous Lala Bee Hoon, you have to try the Lala Bee Hoon from De Beer too ! With really generous serving of fresh lalas and the gravy of the bee hoon was light yet flavourful. You would definitely help yourself to a second serving.

花螺炒米粉

This egg plant dish tasted great ! I loved the toppings that went with it, egg plants were not overcooked. Great to pair with a bowl of plain rice !

鱼香茄子煲

Champagne ribs ! Love, Love, Love !

黑啤香槟骨

Kai lan with Tou Gen. Maybe I am not a very green person =p. I find this dish so-so.

养眼豆根扒港芥兰

Sauna prawns were fresh and succulent ! I loved those those with bigger heads !

养生桑拿活虾

We actually came because of this signature dish of De Beer - Flamming Chicken.

Signature 火焰鸡

The chicken was deboned and served in a "steamboat" style with tofu, mushrooms and veg at the base. I was won over ! Usually I do not take chicken breast meat. But the chicken breast portion was so tender and soft, infused with the flavourful soup based. It's really worth the try!

A must to pair with the grated ginger.

For the crab lovers ! Salted Egg Yolk Crabs not to be missed. I love the unique texture of the coating. Another win!

Thursday, August 18, 2016

This is another opportunity for me to get to know and bring to all of you another kind of treatment, this time it's from Castelle de Beaute - Oxy Mizu Rejuvenating Mist Facial Treatment. Castelle de Beaute is another gem located in the heartland of Jurong East, just a stone throw away from Jurong East Mrt station.

If you have encountered having some skin irritations or any skin condition like eczema but would badly love to have your facial done and yet most of the time, the therapist will advise you to go back on another day or when the condition of the skin improves. You might want to carry on reading and see what this facial treatment can help.

Before the start of the treatment, I was explained by the centre manager that this treatment has the following benefits:
- Scar lightening
- Diminishing wrinkles
- Skin Rejuvenation
- Clearing of Acne
- Relieve skin condition due to dermatitis / eczema.
- Rehydrating of skin after laser treatment

I did my consultation on the first level and proceeded up to the second level where lockers were provided for the clients to keep their belongings before the commencement of the treatment.

This was one treatment that took 3 hours! Seems long but the whole process was pretty comprehensive to give the skin a real pampering session. Castelle de Beaute uses this award-winning, Spanish brand "Atache" range for my combination skin type.

Let's just take a look at the picture of my very badly maintained face due to lack of time. You see tiny scabs, the cluster of clogged and open pores, black heads, reddish bumps and that uneven skin tone.

My left profile

My face was first treated to a double cleanse, a yogurt scrub (sounds like a treat for the face) and got the face "steamed" to open the pores and get ready for extraction.

After cleansing

I have pretty high threshold especially for extraction. I feel that "pain" is unavoidable if I want my face to be thoroughly cleansed. The extraction process was quite long, I fell asleep and I was fidgety from lying too long on my back LOL !! But I must say the therapist who did the extraction was super, duper patient! I felt that she covered all the affected area. Apologies if the photo below may seemed a little gross. This was what she extracted out for me. My face felt so much lighter and cleaner!

Here comes the highlight of the treatment- Aqua-Oxy Therapy System. Oxygen by itself is a natural, powerful cleanser. Oxygen is used to cleanse the body of any toxins, viruses and bacteria yet at the same time,, Oxygen provides life and energy to all living cells.

From my view in the room, I took a glanced and saw this bottle hanging on a stand. The suspense was killing me as I thought why would a drip stand appear in a salon ?! Am I going to get poke and made to go on drip?

Come closer, the machine actually looked like this. It is the combination and the use of four machines in to one 3 hrs treatment.

My face was then treated with to an Oxygen Spray with the ampoules. Oxygen spray with vitamin c ampoule to help with whitening of skin and the blue ampoule is for replenishing hydration to the skin. The Oxygen injector helps to stimulate and activate cellular activity.

"Patting" the serum into my face

Detox Vacuum Pen which could help with removal of toxins and aids in improving the colour of skin tone as it goes along the lymphatic nodes.

The last part was using of Ionic Charocal Mask from Japan, manufactured in Kishu. The mask can help in cleansing away dirty substances hidden in the pores and exfoliate the skin. It releases negative ions which helps promote detox, neutralize the positive ions on the skin cells and allows the skin to breathe. It also aids the skin in better absorption, have brightening effects on the skin as well as balancing the PH, oil control as well as giving a more radiant skin.

The next question on your mind must be, if this mask is available for sale? Yes, it is for sale at $88 per piece but without the use of the Aqua-Oxy Therapy System, just by using the mask alone will not be as effective.

The very last procedure would be having my whole face covered with this face shield. With the inhaling of 98% pure oxygen produced using high-pressure separation system, this could help in increasing one's energy level and reviving holistic wellness, for a full 10 mins. Imagine the short and quick breath we intake daily, it is not going to bring sufficient oxygen to our brains which explains why we feel lethargic most of the time.

Face mask with oxygen inhalation

Verdict: My face felt really clean and light after the very detailed extraction and skin was supple and soft. Given that amount of extraction, I was worried that I might be leaving the place with reddish, squeezed marks on my face. But no, my face looked quite clearer and smooth, without any markings and definitely more hydrated than before I stepped into the salon.

Now you read about what Oxy Mizu Rejuvenating Mist Facial Treatment is about, Castelle de Beaute is sending their love to one lucky reader to experience their latest treatment.

This latest treatment is a fusion protocol of East meets West - using the Chinese Gua Sha scraping technique with Radio Frequency technology, the treatment lifts the skin and speeds up the lymphatic drainage system. The traditional technique of Gua Sha helps to reduce toxins in the skin and relieve water retention on the face. The face is then sculpted with Radio Frequency (RF) technology, penetrating deeper skin tissue to rejuvenate tired skin for better results.

Terms and Conditions :
- Contest runs from 18 - 24 June 2016 and ends at 2359 hours.
- Contest is for residents residing in Singapore only.
- Any incomplete entries will be disqualified.
- Winner will be contacted via email and have 24 hours to respond before a new winner to be picked again.

Castelle de Beaute is located at:

Blk 133 Jurong Gateway

#01-301

Singapore 600133

Contact Number: 6563 1131

Opening Hours: 10am to 8pm (Mon-Fri) and 10am to 7pm (Weekends and Public Holidays)

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Our very first terrarium, built 3 years ago, lasted about 9 months. I did not recreate another one until the lovely folks from Flora Garage Sg asked if I would like to review their newly launched product - DIY Terrarium Kit. Since it was quite a while ago, I thought how nice if I could rope in Vera this time to build it together with her brother and could revise again with Xav on the water cycle with the enclosed terrarium. It's not just about building a terrarium, the kids get to learn something out of it as well.

My first reaction upon seeing the huge box was, "Wow!" because I did not expect it to be that huge. Inside this huge box is actually a Premium DIY Terrarium Kit, which contains all that one needs to build not one BUT two terrariums.

A total of 6 assorted indoor plants, a good quality (pretty thick) glass bowl and a glass jar, a pack of Premium Terrarium Mix, a pack of activated charcoal, 3 packs of decorative pebbles of different colours, a pack of gravel, the mini spray bottle and a set of gardening tools.

Personally, I thought these tools were just of the right size and perfect for the kids to use when working on the terrarium without being oversized for their little hands. But still they were being supervised by myself when they were using the tools.

Within the kit, a step-by-step instruction manual was enclosed with it. It looks pretty clear and simple and I have tasked Xavier to read through and get started on it with really minimal help from me. Then, he started building the open terrarium first while I used my eye power until he asked for help.

Both Xav and Vera had an opportunity to work together in building up the two terrariums. They had to wash the gravels first. No prize for guessing who was the one who ended up playing with water instead of helping with the wash.

Washing the gravels together

On one hand, Xav tried to measure and estimate how much gravel to put in, one the other hand, Vera helped to lay the gravels.

Until he reached the part whereby we needed to loosen the soil. Both of us were infact struggling with it. Xav was very careful as he was afraid that he might break the roots. I did not know either if the whole pot of plant should go into the terrarium or just used a part of it.

During the process, some of the plants were pretty challenging to handle as they started to fall apart. We were at a point asking each other anxiously "how huh, how huh?" I should have thought about leaving a free "hole" in the centre and place the plant right in after loosening the soil.

Finally, we concluded that the whole pot of plant shall go into the glass bowl. Vera assisted to lay the decorative pebbles.

We could be over flooding this terrarium but the kids were happy with what they have created and even took one of their favourite characters "Tsum Tsum for decorating the finished terrariums. Hence, I just left it as it is. Note that the Tsum Tsum toys are from our own. =p

I actually forgot to take the finished product for the closed terrarium (enclosed glass jar). I guess the plants are surviving well (If you spot the tiny leaves sprouting up in the background) and Mickey is enjoying the daily sauna inside the glass jar such that Xav had to tell me "Mickey is persipiring!"

2 weeks later

Spot those tiny leaves !

The leftover of terrarium soil, gravels as well as decorating pebbles were far more than enough for two terrariums. I think we could use it to build a few more and no wastage too, we re-potted some of the leftover plants in the mini pot.

Not just the DIY Terrarium Kit for the DIY junkies, if you do not have green fingers like myself, terrariums are the best if you would love to have some greens in your place, with minimal effort and maintenance. There is also a note on tips for maintaining both the open and closed terrariums that came with the box.

Here is a graphic on tips for maintaining a terrarium (credit to: Floral Garage Sg)

And IF you would prefer the easier way to gift a terrarium to someone. Flora Garage Sg does have ready made terrariums on sale too! You can check out the Succulent/ Cacti & Other Terrariums.

Floral Garage Sg was really nice to send over ready-made Premium Terrarium together with the Premium DIY Terrarium Kit. I gifted it to my mum who is both plant and flower lover. Her eyes beamed and was actually wowing over it when I handed the bowl to her.

It was beautifully arranged and makes a nice centre piece on the table in the living room.

Apart from Terrariums, Floral Garage Sg carries other range of products to gift for all occasions. Some suggestion would be, the Floral Box under Flower and Gift Set as well as if you are planning to throw a birthday bash. they have an array of products specially cater just for the parties.

Should you be keen to purchase any of the products, there is a 10% off discount code when you shop online: https://floralgaragesg.com/ . Simple enter the discount code: Xavvy10 upon check out.If you would love to walk in, Floral Garage Sg is located at: 756 Upper Serangoon Road,

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

I am a wing lover especially mid-joints. So happened that I saw Janice's post on Teba Shio, the craving came. No matter how engaged or dreadful I felt about having to wash up after cooking, did not deter me from trying out this dish. No, not for dinner. We polished them off as our tea-break. Many of my friends were asking for the recipe. So here it is. I tweeked the recipe and this is my combination. I bought the steak and BBQ for meat marination and decided to buy the sea salt and black pepper to try as well.

It's all by estimation. I marinated the wings with some Chinese cooking wine, grinded a generous amount of sea salt and black pepper. I mixed all together and left it aside for at least 15 mins. But I left them aside for about an hour.

I baked them at 180 Degree Celsius. I did not note the time but I baked them till they turned golden brown. In between, I did brushed on some oil. Before serving, I grounded another round of the condiments shown above.

Verdict: Skin of the wings was crispy and tasty, the meat was tender from within. Going for a picnic this evening to celebrate the Nation's 51st birthday and to catch some fireworks? Try baking this and bring along.